'Perfection' in skating

Scott Hamilton often used the word 'perfection' in describing Gordeeva Grinkov.

Who were other skaters that were 'perfect'?- not just a performance, or a few performances, but their technique in particular was perfect. Some of the skaters listed below were not 'perfect' in every sense of the word; that honor belongs to only a handful.

Pairs & Ice dance:

Gordeeva-Grinkov (everything about them was perfect)

Klimova-Ponomarenko (perfect technicians who later grew into perfect artists as well)

Torville-Dean: Who can forget a row of 6.0's for artistry in 1984? Their technique was good too- earning them many 6.0s (though not all)

I think Virtue & Moir exemplify technical perfection more than Davis & White do. David and White skate with a ton of speed and attack but I think Virtue & Moir skate closer together, have more fluid handholds, pay greater attention to the placement of their free legs, and skate cleaner edges. I'm going by what I've seen from 2009 to the 2012 Worlds (I haven't been following the grand prix series this season). However, I must say that Davis & White keep improving in these areas, especially since the 2010 season.

Thinking about what is perfection in FS for me and find i have different vision with Vash01
For me perfection its lines, skating skills, edges, how skaters look on ice, when all moves look finished, all technicak elements look perfect.
So its mustnt be my favorite skaters, but this must be skaters who not only have the best technick or skating skills, but also all time try to improve there skating, work on made any moves perfect and finished.
So, my list of perfection is :
Belousova Protopopov http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qky5kw67nX4 They all time to work on every move, for them is always important every move suite to there programs. And there lines in die for even now.
John Curry
robin cousins
Patrick Chan
Moiseeva-Minenkov
Klimova-Ponomarenko
Torvill and Dean(in all sence - chore, lines, costumes0
Virtue-Moir
Carolina Kostner

Call me silly, but I happen to believe no skater is perfect; every skater, every pair, every team has flaws.

And I struggle to reconcile Chan the human Zamboni and Kim of the unpointed toes as "perfect".

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Mostly true. That's why I focused more on technique, because that is less subjective than a single performance or artistry in general.

Chan's basic skating is perfect but he is inconsistent on the whole. I cut him some slack because of his superior skating skills and attention to detail. By the same token I should have included B&S for having the same qualities, but lack of consistency. However, their struggle with split triple twist took them out of consideraton. If we looked at posture, lines, speed, basic skating and unison (all technical things) they would definitely make the list.

There is no true perfection. Even the most perfect pair G&G made an occasional mistake. I would say technically G&G and K&P were perfect. Doing a few elements perfectly does not make perfection for me, but as we see from the posts, people have many different interpretations of perfection, and that's OK (even though I have a real problem with some of the examples mentioned in some posts).

Mostly true. That's why I focused more on technique, because that is less subjective than a single performance or artistry in general.

Chan's basic skating is perfect but he is inconsistent on the whole. I cut him some slack because of his superior skating skills and attention to detail. By the same token I should have included B&S for having the same qualities, but lack of consistency. However, their struggle with split triple twist took them out of consideraton. If we looked at posture, lines, speed, basic skating and unison (all technical things) they would definitely make the list.

There is no true perfection. Even the most perfect pair G&G made an occasional mistake. I would say technically G&G and K&P were perfect. Doing a few elements perfectly does not make perfection for me, but as we see from the posts, people have many different interpretations of perfection, and that's OK (even though I have a real problem with some of the examples mentioned in some posts).

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Yes, all have there own opinion. I have a lot off problems with your "perfect" skaters too, because they are so far from the perfection. Thats why i try to explane my point

Call me silly, but I happen to believe no skater is perfect; every skater, every pair, every team has flaws.

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I agree - perfection is something you need to work every day and never will be there

No skater is perfect. They could do a perfect program without mistakes, but it is very rare for one skater to do totally flawless performances. They are human after all.

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miskarne said:

And I struggle to reconcile Chan the human Zamboni and Kim of the unpointed toes as "perfect".

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I wouldn't mind being 'human zamboni' and 'miss unpointed toes' if I can win World and Olympic gold medals!
I don't think Vash01 is talking about 'perfect skater'. If I read Vash01 post correctly, the reference is more on 'perfect technique or perfect program'. Perhaps a better adjective is 'flawless' since perfection carries a small degree of subjectivity.

I wouldn't mind being 'human zamboni' and 'miss unpointed toes' if I can win World and Olympic gold medals!
I don't think Vash01 is talking about 'perfect skater'. If I read Vash01 post correctly, the reference is more on 'perfect technique or perfect program'. Perhaps a better adjective is 'flawless' since perfection carries a small degree of subjectivity.

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You are correct about 'perfect technique'. It is rare. I did not refer to a perfect program or performance though; there are plenty of those. Thanks.

I love this Black Swan quote. I usually use it on people who try to convince me V/M are more perfect than D/W

But in reality I kinda think perfection is still a matter of taste. Something might be technically perfect objectively, but a perfect performance or a perfect skater is in the eye of the beholder. Some people mention Mahler as perfection - well for me it was so sugary my teeth hurt and that is definitely not what I call perfection.

For me Yagudin was perfect. Volosozhar is perfect, but V/T are not. D/W's Giselle is perfect. Michelle Kwan was perfect, no matter how many times she fell or how bad her jumps were.
It all depends on a day, on a skater, on a personal opinion. I don't think there is a single thing in this world objectively perfect to everyone.

For me, "perfection" was Lambiel's Poeta, even though he didn't skate it perfectly very many times; also Johnny Weir's Swan Lake and Dr Zhivago, Jeremy Abbott's programs last year, Sasha Cohen's line, positions, and posture, Plushenko's jumps, anything Takahashi, and Patrick Chan's movement, balance, and edging (I could listen to him skate all day). Lucinda Ruh's spins, although not so much now that I know how much she has suffered because of them.

For me, "perfection" was Lambiel's Poeta, even though he didn't skate it perfectly very many times

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I so agree with you, although there are only a few performances of 'Poeta' that are perfect for me - when he managed to show the character, temperament and energy of this program.

Lucinda Ruh's spins, although not so much now that I know how much she has suffered because of them.

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How so? I almost don't dare to ask, but can you tell more about it? Although, to tell the truth, I can imagine that she has had problems because of that. Even for Lambiel it's not as easy as it seems - apparently his back hurts quite often because of his spins, and also the problem with his eye last year was at least partially connected to his headless spin, as he used not to breath during it, which heightened his blood pressure.